My wizard little brother
by T1gerCat
Summary: What if the Dursleys refused to take baby Harry in? How did he end up in the USA and how did his foster sister found herself in Hogwards just in time to save his life? Can everything change because of timing?
1. Chapter 1: The second task

**Chapter 1: The second quest**

Disclaimer: noop, not mine and the majority of this chapter belongs to J.K. Rowling and her 4th Harry Potter Book.

Harry POV

"An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took…

…your time's half gone, so tarry not

Lest what you seek stays here to rot…"

There was nothing to be done except…

I snatched up the stone, which Krum had dropped, but the mermen now closed in around Ron and the little girl, shaking their heads at him. I pulled out my wand.

"Get out of the way!"

Only bubbles flew out of my mouth, but I had the distinct impression that the mermen had understood me, because they suddenly stopped laughing. Their yellowish eyes were fixed upon my wand, and they looked scared. There might be a lot more of them than there were of me, but I could tell, by the looks on their faces, that they knew no more magic than the giant squid did.

"You've got until three!"

I shouted; a great stream of bubbles burst from my lips, but I held up three fingers to make sure they got the message.

"One…"

"two…"

They scattered. I darted forward and began to hack at the ropes binding the small girl to the statue, and at last she was free. I seized the little girl around the waist, grabbed the neck of Ron's robes, and kicked off from the bottom. It was very slow work. I could no longer use his webbed hands to propel myself forward; I worked my flippers furiously, but Ron and Fleur's sister were like potato-filled sacks dragging me back down...

I fixed his eyes skyward, though I knew we must still be very deep, the water above us was so dark... Merpeople were rising with us. I could see them swirling around me with ease, watching me struggle through the water...Would they pull us back down to the depths when the time was up? Did they perhaps eat humans?

My legs were seizing up with the effort to keep swimming; my shoulders were aching horribly with the effort of dragging Ron and the girl… I was drawing breath with extreme difficulty and could feel pain on the sides of my neck again... I was becoming very aware of how wet the water was in my mouth, yet the darkness was definitely thinning now I could see daylight above me.

I kicked hard with my flippers and discovered that they were nothing more than feet, water was flooding through my mouth into my lungs, I was starting to feel dizzy, but I knew light and air were only ten feet above him. I had to get there... I had to…

"Come on Harry, you can do it"

A female voice was heard urging me to keep swimming like she had done so many years ago when she was teaching him to swim underwater. Images starting flashing in front of my eyes. Sirius, Ron, Hermione, my parents, my foster dad and my sister. She didn't know I was a wizard nor she knew of my quest. I would die and she wouldn't know why. The last image I saw before succumbing to the darkness was her face as she read to me before bed when they were little.

"I love you baby brother"

"Goodbye Bella"


	2. Chapter 2: The beach

Chapter 2 - The beach

Bella POV

I was at the beach with my new friends. It was an unusually sunny day and some kids from school had decided to spend it on the beach. Never one to refuse a day at the beach I had readily accepted. I was sitting in front of a large fallen log watching the water. It was dark grey, even in the sunlight, white-capped and heaving to the grey, rocky shore. Islands rose out of the steel harbour waters with sheer cliff sides, reaching to uneven summits, and crowned with austere, soaring firs. The beach had only a thin border of actual sand at the water's edge, after which it grew into millions of large, smooth stones that looked uniformly gray from a distance, but close up were every shade a stone could be: terra-cotta, sea green, lavender, blue gray, dull gold. The tide line was strewn with huge driftwood trees, bleached bone white in the salt waves, some piled together against the edge of the forest fringe, some lying solitary, just out of reach of the waves.

There was a brisk wind coming off the waves, cool and briny. Pelicans floated on the swells while seagulls and a lone eagle wheeled above them. The clouds still circled the sky, threatening to invade at any moment, but for now the sun shone bravely in its halo of blue sky.

On my left was the fire. The strange blue and green flames were crackling toward the sky taking me back to the million bonfires I was attended as a little girl here on this same beach. I always insisted I saw faces and shapes in the flames and everyone always laughed at me.

We had just returned from the tide pools. Harry and I both loved them. They had fascinated me since I was a child; they were one of the only things I ever looked forward to when I had to come to Forks.

In the breeze I heard that voice again. A voice that called my name and whipped my head around to see who was calling at me but no one was even looking my way. Sure Mike made sure to be near me but he was turned towards Eric and they were talking about the waves they wanted to ride.

I had heard the voice a bit earlier as well, at the tidal pools. I had sat on the edge of a rock looking at the water and allowing myself to remember. The bouquets of brilliant anemones undulated ceaselessly in the invisible current, twisted shells scurried about the edges, obscuring the crabs within them, starfish stuck motionless to the rocks and each other, while one small black eel with white racing stripes wove through the bright green weeds, waiting for the sea to return.

I stood up with the others and stripped down to my thermal tomato red bathing suit along with Jessica and Angela and headed to the water. Feeling brave and more than slightly intimidated that everyone else was jumping in I dipped a toe in, shivered and walked in. My whole body decided to freeze until Jessica and Angela both started splashing me.

Remembering how much Harry loves sea shells I started diving hoping to find him a few only to hear the male voice again. This time it was saying goodbye and all I wanted was to be near it. I felt myself being sucked and I saw in the distance a boy being drowned.

Without thinking I started to swim faster and I got him before he hit the sandy ground, where ever that was and propelled us to the surface. I could see a herd of small, horned people, poking out of the weed, their long fingers clutched tightly around the boy's leg, its pointed fangs bared creatures like mermaids from hell around us and feel them as they tried to get us down. Thankfully the boy was limp in my arms and I was able to evade the creatures and got us to the surface. I got mouthfulls of air looking around. I don't know where I was but I certainly wasn't at First beach anymore.

I was in a large lagoon of sorts. The formerly grey water was now green and foggy with forests of rippling, tangled black weed, wide plains of mud littered with dull, glimmering stones. The boy in my arms was Harry, my adopted baby brother. I took a few gulps of air and blew in his mouth as much as I could while holding his head above water. Voices could be heard from the distance and gripping my brother tighter I started swimming as fast as I could towards the sounds.

All around me, wild, green-haired heads were emerging out of the water after me, but they were smiling at us. Soon I saw crowd in stands all around the lagoon looking at us confused making a great deal of noise; shouting and screaming. I propelled Harry to a wooden bunk with twenty creatures accompanying us like a guard of honor, singing a horrible screechy song.

I could see a woman fussing over a few kids all of whom were wrapped in thick blankets. Two old guys stood beaming at Harry until they realized he was unconscious and only then looked at me. Meanwhile a huge woman was trying to restrain a girl that looked like an older version of the girl that I saw earlier, who was quite hysterical, fighting tooth and nail to return to the water.

"Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she 'urt?"

"She's fine, now get out of my way"

I snarled and lifted Harry to the bunk jumping immediately out as well and started CPR on him. A few tries later and he was spitting water. I turned him to his side making sure to shade him from the strangely dressed people that were around us.

The old man in robes started talking loudly and I felt dizzy. I looked at Harry who was looking at me as if he'd never see me before and I wrapped him in my arms. I have no idea where we are or are these people or why they're dressed like this but he's safe and that's all that matters.


	3. Chapter 3: Hi Bella

Chapter 3: Erm Hi Bella

Harry was coughing violently and I kept rubbing his arms in at attempt to calm him down. The voices were still loud around us and the two men kept trying to come closer. The older, grampa looking one was ordering people to get us towels and said something about judges while a shorter, younger man in a hat that reminded me of the Dupont et Dupond brothers from Tin Tin and I had to bite my lip to conceal my snicker. Judging from the identical smirk on Harry's lips as his eyes followed mine he was thinking the same thing.

The blond girl that was asking me about Gabrielle came and knelt next to Harry and after thanking him profusely planted a kiss on his cheek causing him to go all pink and she even gave me a hug and then she danced off to a red head boy and kissed him as well making him blush more than Harry. One more girl also covered in a towel came to us blabbering about flowers and finishing places until a loud voice coming from a stick the old man held to his neck caused her and everyone else to shut up.

The old man said that the winner of this .. race? was a guy named Diggory because of a charm. I snuck a look at the guy and wished I hadn't. What is Edward doing here? wherever here is... Harry looked nervous and I grabbed his hand, he seemed to need the support as the old man gave him second place because he rescued two people. Cheers were heard around us and people were hugging Harry for what seemed like ages but his hand kept its grip on mine.

Most of the kids scattered around but some people remained. The old guy in the grey 'dress' came curiously to us. Harry gave him a bright smile started the introductions

"Professor this is my sister Bella Swan. Bella this is Professpr Dumbledoor the headmaster"

"Sister?"

"Yes sir. My parents adopted Harry when he was a tiny giggling poop machine"

I gave him my most innocent eyes. Usually worked on teachers.

"I see"

His bushy eyebrows came together as his eyes looked at me up and down and then a large smile that looked just a tad artificial for my liking and extended a hand

"Nice to meet you then miss Swan"

"Nice to meet you too professor. I'm gonna need to call dad, he has no idea I'm here, heck I had no idea I was here until 20 minutes ago"

Professor Dumbledore agreed and said he would contact Charlie for me and told us to meet him in his office. Then he turned and left with Dupond Dupond look-alike closing on him. The woman that handed us the towels came again and I could tell she was cautious around me. She quickly took our temperature by touching our foreheads and handed a dry pair of shorts, a t-shirt and some sort of cape along with a pair of shoes. She looked at me for a moment and walked away muttering under her breath. Harry cast a look around and quickly handed me the t-shirt donning on the shorts and the cape. Both shorts and t-shirt were a ruby red color with gold lining and while I was sure it'd be great on Harry it was more like a short dress on me ending just below my butt.

"You look cute sis"

"you want me to hit you squirt?"

he pulled a face and I laughed at him. Just then the plump woman with the funny costume came back with a pair of sneakers for me. I smiled at her thanking her and her whole posture changed. Gone was the tired looking sharp woman and a mom kind smile appeared at her face as she watched me tie the red and gold sneakers. Huh, for new shoes they fit perfectly.

Harry said something to the kids that were waiting for him and we started to walk slowly through a forest like park. He seemed hesitant and I couldn't help but wonder why.

"Harry, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You look far away"

"I'm just tired bells"

I felt myself frown and pulled him to sit on a fallen log.

"we need to talk don't we?"

He nodded and was about to tell me something but Dupond Dupond came up and interrupted.

"Congratulations Potter, a fine achievement"

"Thank you"

Harry blushed under the praise, he's too much like me

"It's quite tragic, isn't it? To lose one's family, never be whole again. But I see you have found a rebound help"

Did he just insult me?

"I'm sure your parents would be very proud of you today, Potter"

"Bartemius"

A guy with a weird eye patch thingy interrupted. Does anyone in this place respect conversations?

"Not trying to lure Potter into one of the Ministry's summer internships, are we?"

I turned to Harry with my eyes wide like saucers and mouthed

"Ministry"

"Later"

He mouthed back and I mock scowled. The guy with the patch darted his tongue out in a snake like manner and the Dupond guy was instantly alarmed and hasted away and the eye patch guy took a sip of a flask. nice! I turned to Harry with a raised eyebrow. He nodded reluctantly and as we were about to sit down again, he got his evil little smirk on, like when he wanted a pet snake because he insisted he could talk to it and it would reply and dragged me off to a cabin of sorts on a nearby cliff overlooking the lake. A huge guy came out, and I do mean huge, he was taller than harry and me both standing on charlie's shoulders!

He was also large (but I guess that was ok with his height), he had a thick black beard and long hair. a pair of black dancing eyes completed the look.

"Oh Harry me boy, soon to be the youngest Ttiwizard champion there's ever been!"

Then he looked at me, went white, looked back at Harry who was near purle with mortification and back to me.

"I'm Bella and you are?"

"I'm Hagrid"

and he gave me a hug that knocked the living daylights out of me. I pulled back coughing a little and he proceeded to drag us both to the cabin where Harry and I would finally let the masks fall and talk. I hope!


	4. Chapter 4: Coming clean

chapter 4: Coming clean

Bella and Harry took seats in the narrow yellowish kitchen. The huge guy whispered something in Harry's ear and he nodded. The he poured a glass of a strange orange juice for each of them and a plate of something that looked like chalk, according to Bella.

She was silent, mulling over what they needed to talk about and Harry was going though lines hoping to find the ones that would hurt her less. Always the impatient one Bella broke the silence.

"you don't have to tell me if you don't want to Harry, it's alright"

"no I have to, this has been a secret for too long"

"this?"

"Remember when I told you about my birth parents?"

"Yes, Jim and Lily, they were killed on your first birthday and you were supposed to go with your mom's friend but you ended up with us instead"

"well his name was James"

she shuddered for a moment but composed herself quickly

"sorry"

"it's alright. well they were... wizards"

he stopped and looked at her. Her face was expressionless and she stared at him for a moment until she chuckled.

"Nice one"

He didn't respond

"You're serious, aren't you?"

He nodded

"well, I knew something was wrong with you when I dropped you as a baby and you bounced! No one would believe me though"

she told him in a slightly ironic voice with a small smile causing him to respond with one

"How long have you... well known?"

she gestured with her hand

"since I was 11 years old"

"4 years? and you didn't tell me anything? Does Charlie know?"

The 14 year old boy nodded and winced at the hurt that appeared on her face.

"I see. I guess I should return home then, my friends, Charlie are probably worrying"

"Bella, let me talk"

"fine"

"they were killed by an evil wizard. They died protecting me, that's how I got this"

he motioned to the light bold shaped scar on his forehead

"one of dad's, I mean James', friends took the fall but he didn't do it. He wasn't the one that sold them out. He was sent in jail and escaped last year. Remember Padfoot the dog?"

As Bella's eyes widened as a memory hit her harry chuckled.

_Flashback_

Sixteen year old Bella had met her dad and foster little brother at the airport in sunny cali where the three would spend the rest of her dad's time off, a tradition that had started on Harry's 11th birthday, Her parents had broken up only a year after adopting Harry and Renee had left Forks with little Bella with her. She wanted both kids but since Harry was actually Billy's relative she couldn't take him away.

This time her brother not only had his strange pet owl with him but a large black dog as well. The dog needed a bath, fast, even flies died around him. Boys! Bella thought, hopefully he will grow up and get over the strange, bright eyed pets that made her feel they could understand her.

The dog was about to enter the log beach cabin the small family rented she stopped it and called for her brother.

"Harry you know I love you and I find your pre teen weirdness cute but 'that' will not come in without a bath"

Harry's eyes widened and Bella's narrowed. The dog actually hid its face in the ground and covered its eyes with it's paws like it was embarrassed as Charlie bit his lip in an effort not to laugh.

"Erm, Bells I'm sure that dog can shower later"

Bella's left eyebrow made a journey for her hairline

"Dogs don't have opposable thumbs honey. You're bathing it, now. I'll even help"

Harry knew not to cross his sister when she used her business tone and reluctantly agreed wishing he could tell her that the 'dog' was actually his godfather Sirius Black, Especially when the dog made a show of ditching him and playing or lying with his sister when she would sunbathe or swim in the ocean. . .

_End flashback_

Just like that the animosity was gone. The two foster siblings spent the next two hours talking about all the things they kept from each other. Simple stupid stuff like how a wizard lived in the nearest muggle (non magical) city and would be the one that sent his letters from Hogwarts to forks and phoenix for her, to the important stuff like what this triwizard tournament was and Renee's fake marriage.

"The marriage is a skum? seriously?"

"Yep. Phil's gay and needed to be married to get a heritage so he chose his best friend, plus it helped getting Renée out of phoenix"

Harry shook his head remembering when he had used a port key for Christmas to go to phoenix with Charlie and Bella and Renee to celebrate. Phil did seem a bit interested on how good Harry's butt looked in his tux.

"why did mo - I mean Renee need to leave phoenix?"

Bella bit her lower lip

"well, she and I may have gotten into trouble. Do you promise you keep your mouth shut if i tell you?"

Harry nodded and Bella told him a story about how Renee had started to date a guy named jams and how he proved to be a vampire that wanted to eat them. Literally. Bella had accidentally killed him using Charlie's flame thrower lighting up the whole dance studio he had them in in the process. he had bit her as well but hadn't had the chance of doing anything else as Renee got his attention by hitting him on the head with a phone. Up until that moment they thought he was just a crazy guy.

Harry got red with anger but calmed down when he saw that Bella was now safe. So was Renee who was in Florida with Phil for spring training. As night fell the two siblings fell asleep and Hagrid easily carried them both back to the castle. Professor McGonagall chuckled at the image of each teen thrown over hagrid's massive shoulders and told him to put them in the Gryffindor common room on the couches and then apparated off to fetch chief Swan from forks, Washington, use.


	5. Chapter 5: Life as we know it

chapter 5: Life as we know it

Bella had woken up by Harry's pained screams in the middle of the night and she joined him in his couch and held him like she did when he was little and had bad dreams. Soon he quieted and they fell to slumber again only to wake up by the herds of students the next morning.

Bella sat up and sent a glare to a bunch of younger kids that were whistling 'Harry and a girl are sitting on a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g' while Harry blushed and literary ran off to get dressed.

The house's resident ghost informed them that they were expected in the headmasters office while grumbling all the time that he, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy - Porpington was used to deliver messages, Bella accepted the message while smiling a little and not at all frightened by him. Hoping he'd get a reaction Nearly headless Nick seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly.

"Impressive"

The teen girl agreed with a smile on her face and accepted graciously the message seizing Harry's hand and allowing him to lead her to the office after a brief tour of the castle. In the office Charlie was sitting in one of the chairs in front of the desk while a black haired woman in teal green robes and the grey haired man in the grey robes sat behind it. Charlie got up relieved and hugged both the kids much like he did the day he signed to adopt Harry. Bella felt a bad vibe from the headmaster and refused to say anything. Instead she exchanged a look with both Charlie and Harry and Charlie playing the 'dad card' decided that Harry would stay in the school as he had one more test to complete and Bella and Charlie would return home. He left the office with a parting message for the gray dressed man, 'don't let my son get hurt, I'll hurt you if you do'

Then both father and daughter were given a 'lift' home by a creature that was about the height of Bella's knee. It had large, bat-like ears and bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls and was dressed in a piece of grey fabric that looked like a dress, or one of old Bella's tank tops Renee used to dress Harry as a baby every night when he went to bed. It bowed so low that its long nose touched the floor and extended a hand to the muggles in front of it and transported to their house where they asked him if he would like to join them for lunch but the little elf got so flustered that he started banging his head around against the kitchen cabinets and left before either of them had a chance to apologise if they had offended it.

For the next two months things were quiet. Before the storm quiet. Harry returned to his normal schoolwork even though a lot of the older kids would ask about his sister 'is she seeing anyone? Will you give me her number?' or address in this case. The resident bully by the name Draco Malfoy made a point of the legendary Harry Potter having a muggle foster sister that earned him a broken nose and black eye, Charlie had teaches both his kids to throw a punch. If you asked anyone though no one had seen a thing... Harry was so annoyed by the herd of marriage proposals and date requests that he threatened to castrate the next person tha'd ask him. Poor Cedric... all the guy wanted was to wish him good luck and tell the 14 year old he did well when Harry exploded. In a way of apologizing he was the only one given Bella's address though...

Bella returned to her school life as well, keeping a close but not too close eye to the strange family that had bewitched her before her sudden trip to Hogwards. Edward kept trying to make smalltalk everyday in class but she wasn't interested. After finding out that wizards exist she paid more attention to the legends she grew up with and realized why the Cullen family seemed so familiar when she first met them. Their skin colour was frighteningly similar to her almost murderer, their eyes were only different but it was more than enough to quench her curiosity and keep her distance. Besides, why whould she go with the vampire when there is a wizard lookalike with a beating heart at the same school as her brother that wrote to her dutifully every 6 days?

The two siblings kept in touch by writing to each other at least two times a week and would talk about his studies, his friends (that wouldn't admit to liking each other) and of course the tournament along with some strange dreams he was having. Bella on the other hand told him about the La Push shapeshifters, the large amount of hikers going AWOL and last but not least the spring formal. She begged him for a way to get around it but he laughed (a whole page of haha) and told her to send photos. She wouldn't let him get around his Yule ball after all and payback is a bitch.

As May rolled in a formal invitation to the third task of Harry's tournament arrived in the mail. Bella breathed a sigh of amusement mixed with relief as she would get to to go to the spring dance after all, she would have to bring the photos to her brother herself. Meanwhile Charlie used all his knowledge and contacts to find out more about the personnel of Hogwards, despite having met most of them, both he and Bella were sure there was more to them than just what met the eye but they didn't mention anything to harry for two reasons. One was that the young boy was fed a larger bite that he could/should chew at the moment and two they weren't sure just how safe the mail was and if someone read it.

Harry had whispered something about his marauder uncles Sirius and Lupin to Charlie's ear quickly when he had gone to fetch bella so when he and Bella were getting ready to attend the task they were also looking for a way to contact them. And by them they were actually looking for Lupin. sirius had donned his large black doggie self and was laying low, literally. Bella had threatened to kick him out after she saw he was actually a person and still loved to hang out in her bedroom claiming his pows got cold unless he shared her bed. She still kicked him out and sent him to cuddle with the poodle next door. He didn't like that...

She had accepted Mike's invitation to the spring ball (simply to shut him up) but made sure to return by her 1 am special curfew so she and Charlie would be up at 8 am to be ready when Dobby the free elf would stop by to fetch them.

Meanwhile in an enchanted castle in Scotland the students of Hogwards were either snickering over one more degrading and downright nasty article about Harry on the Daily Prophet or simply leaving the Great Hall to start off their classes. Professor McGonagall came walking alongside the Gryffindor table toward him.

"Potter, the champions are congregating in the chamber off the Hall after breakfast"

"But the task's not till tonight!"

said Harry, accidentally spilling scrambled eggs down his front, afraid he had mistaken the time.

"I'm aware of that, Potter. The champions' families are invited to watch the final task, you know. This is simply a chance for you to greet them."

She moved away. Harry gaped after her.

"Your parents came!" Ron asked dumply forgetting for a moment that Harry had been adopted."

Harry looked at him waiting for the punch line but as none came he bid his friend good luck for the day and finished his glass of juice watching as Fleur Delacour, Cedric Diggory and Viktor Krum walked through the side chamber double doors. He followed and opened the door. Cedric and his parents were just inside the door. Viktor Krum was over in a corner, conversing with his dark-haired mother and father in rapid Bulgarian. He had inherited his fathers hooked nose. On the other side of the room, Fleur was jabbering away in French to her mother. Fleur's little sister, Gabrielle, was holding her mother's hand. She waved at Harry, who waved back, grinning. Then he saw Charlie and Bella standing next to Billy Black in front of the fireplace, beaming at him.

"Surprise!"

Billy said excited and wheeled himself forward to clasp Harry's hand in a strong grip. Bella simply her arm over his shoulders and squeezed him without saying a word simply offering him a bright smile. Charlie clasped Harry's other hand also smiling. Harry watched in amazement and Charlie winked at him.

"When he heard what happened last time there was no way we'd keep him back"

He joked and Harry chuckled nervously. He liked Billy a lot but the older man was a bit stuck in the past (no one had told Harry yet that werewolves and vampires did actually exist in La Push) and wasn't too sure he'd be honestly accepted by his long distance uncle. Billy's bright proud smile showed him he had nothing to worry about though. Bella simply kissed his scar in a soothing manner. She handed him a small box then.

"contact lenses. You keep losing the glasses baby brother and it's time to get rid of them, at least for the task"

Harry blushed, grinned and nodded his thanks. He turned to the direction of the bathrooms to put them on with her help but as they passed Amos Diggory he talked to them.

"There you are, are you?"

he said, looking Harry up and down.

"Bet you're not feeling quite as full of yourself now Cedrics caught you up on points, are you?"

"What?"

said Harry.

"Ignore him,"

said Cedric in a low voice to Harry, frowning after his father.

"He's been angry ever since Rita Skeeters article about the Triwizard Tournament – you know, when she made out you were the only Hogwarts champion."

"Didn't bother to correct her, though, did he?"

said Amos Diggory, loudly enough for Harry to hear as he started to walk out of the door with his family.

"Still…you'll show him, Ced. Beaten him once before, haven't you?"

"Rita Skeeter goes out of her way to cause trouble, sir! I would have thought you'd know that, working at the Ministry and all!"

Charlie said in a 'I'm a cop and you don't want to cross me' condescending tone that had Cedric fight to hold off his smirk.

Mr. Diggory looked as though he was going to say something angry, but his wife laid a hand on his arm, and he merely shrugged and turned away. Harry had a very enjoyable morning walking over the sunny grounds with Bella, Charlie and Billy, showing them the Beauxbatons carriage and the Durmstrang ship. Billy was intrigued by the Whomping Willow, which he thought would be very useful along the treaty line and reminisced at length about the good ole days when Harry, Jake, Bella, Rachel and Rebecca were playing hide and seek for a whole weekend.

Right after lunch everyone headed to the Quidditch field that was going to be used for the third and final task. Billy and Charlie had both given Harry a man hug and Bella squeezed him telling him she'd be proud if he won and would still love him even if he lost, however she would never forgive him if he got killed. The two teens chuckled and parted. Bella looked over his shoulder at Cedric and mouthed

"Good luck"

He smiled, nodded and sent her a wink. Then she was led to the bleachers to sit in the 'Champions Family' area where she and all the other parents were.


	6. Chapter 6: The third task

A/N: Disclaimer : All recognisable scenes are not mine (ha! I wish!) and they belong to no one else but J..

Chapter 6: The third task

"Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you how the points currently stand! Tied in first place, with eighty-five points each - Mr. Cedric Diggory and Mr. Harry Potter, both of Hogwarts School!"

The cheers and applause sent birds from the Forbidden Forest fluttering into the darkening sky.

"In second place, with eighty points - Mr. Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute! And in third place – Miss Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons Academy!"

Harry could just make out Bella, Charlie, Billy, the howling of a dog, Ron, and Hermione applauding Fleur politely, halfway up the stands. He waved up at them, and they waved back, beaming at him.

"So…on my whistle, Harry and Cedric! Three - two - one -"

He gave a short blast on his whistle, and Harry and Cedric hurried forward into the maze. The towering hedges cast black shadows across the path, and, whether because they were so tall and thick or because they had been enchanted, the sound of the surrounding crowd was silenced the moment they entered the maze. Harry felt almost as though he were underwater again. He pulled out his wand, muttered,

"Lumos,"

and heard Cedric do the same just behind him. After about fifty yards, they reached a fork. They looked at each other.

"See you,"

Harry said, and he took the left one, while Cedric took the right. Harry heard Bagman's whistle for the second time. Krum had entered the maze. Harry sped up. His chosen path seemed completely deserted. He turned right, and hurried on, holding his wand high over his head, trying to see as far ahead as possible. Still, there was nothing in sight. Bagman's whistle blew in the distance for the third time. All of the champions were now inside.

Harry kept looking behind him. The old feeling that he was being watched was upon him. The maze was growing darker with every passing minute as the sky overhead deepened to navy. He reached a second fork.

"Point Me,"

he whispered to his wand, holding it flat in his palm. The wand spun around once and pointed toward his right, into solid hedge. That way was north, and he knew that he needed to go northwest for the center of the maze. The best he could do was to take the left fork and go right again as soon as possible. The path ahead was empty too, and when Harry reached a right turn and took it, he again found his way unblocked. Harry didn't know why, but the lack of obstacles was unnerving him. Surely he should have met something by now? It felt as though the maze were luring him into a false sense of security. Then he heard movement right behind him. He held out his wand, ready to attack, but its beam fell only upon Cedric, who had just hurried out of a path on the right-hand side. Cedric looked severely shaken. The sleeve of his robe was smoking.

"Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts! They're enormous - I only just got away!"

He shook his head and dived out of sight, along another path. Keen to put plenty of distance between himself and the skrewts, Harry hurried off again. Then, as he turned a corner, he saw…a dementor gliding toward him. Twelve feet tall, its face hidden by its hood, its rotting, scabbed hands outstretched, it advanced, sensing its way blindly toward him. Harry could hear its rattling breath; he felt clammy coldness stealing over him, but knew what he had to do… He summoned the happiest thought he could, concentrated with all his might on the thought of getting out of the maze and celebrating with Ron and Hermione, raised his wand, and cried,

"Expecto Patronum!"

A silver stag erupted from the end of Harry's wand and galloped toward the dementor, which fell back and tripped over the hem of its robes…Harry had never seen a dementor stumble.

"Hang on!"

he shouted, advancing in the wake of his silver Patronus,

"You're a boggart! Riddikulus!"

There was a loud crack, and the shape-shifter exploded in a wisp of smoke. The silver stag faded from sight. Harry wished it could have stayed, he could have used some company…but he moved on, quickly and quietly as possible, listening hard, his wand held high once more. Left…right…left again…Twice he found himself facing dead ends. He did the Four-Point Spell again and found that he was going too far east. He turned back, took a right turn, and saw an odd golden mist floating ahead of him.

Harry approached it cautiously, pointing the wand's beam at it. This looked like some kind of enchantment. He wondered whether he might be able to blast it out of the way. "Reducto!" he said. The spell shot straight through the mist, leaving it intact. He supposed he should have known better; the Reductor Curse was for solid objects. What would happen if he walked through the mist? Was it worth chancing it, or should he double back? He was still hesitating when a scream shattered the silence.

"Fleur?"

Harry yelled. There was silence. He stared all around him. What had happened to her? Her scream seemed to have come from somewhere ahead. He took a deep breath and ran through the enchanted mist. The world turned upside down. Harry was hanging from the ground, with his hair on end, his glasses dangling off his nose, threatening to fall into the bottomless sky. He clutched them to the end of his nose and hung there, terrified. It felt as though his feet were glued to the grass, which had now become the ceiling. Below him the dark, star-spangled heavens stretched endlessly. He felt as though if he tried to move one of his feet, he would fall away from the earth completely. Think, he told himself, as all the blood rushed to his head, think… But not one of the spells he had practiced had been designed to combat a sudden reversal of ground and sky. Did he dare move his foot? He could hear the blood pounding in his ears. He had two choices - try and move, or send up red sparks, and get rescued and disqualified from the task. He shut his eyes, so he wouldn't be able to see the view of endless space below him, and pulled his right foot as hard as he could away from the grassy ceiling. Immediately, the world righted itself. Harry fell forward onto his knees onto the wonderfully solid ground. He felt temporarily limp with shock. He took a deep, steadying breath, then got up again and hurried forward, looking back over his shoulder as he ran away from the golden mist, which twinkled innocently at him in the moonlight. He paused at a junction of two paths and looked around for some sign of Fleur. He was sure it had been she who had screamed. What had she met? Was she all right? There was no sign of red sparks - did that mean she had got herself out of trouble, or was she in such trouble that she couldn't reach her wand? Harry took the right fork with a feeling of increasing unease…but at the same time, he couldn't help thinking. One champion down… The cup was somewhere close by, and it sounded as though Fleur was no longer in the running. He'd got this far, hadn't he? What if he actually managed to win? Fleetingly, and for the first time since he'd found himself champion, he saw again that image of himself, raising the Triwizard Cup in front of the rest of the school… He met nothing for ten minutes, but kept running into dead ends. Twice he took the same wrong turning. Finally, he found a new route and started to jog along it, his wandlight waving, making his shadow flicker and distort on the hedge walls. Then he rounded another corner and found himself facing a Blast-Ended Skrewt. Cedric was right - it was enormous. Ten feet long, it looked more like a giant scorpion than anything. Its long sting was curled over its back. Its thick armor glinted in the light from Harry's wand, which he pointed at it.

"Stupefy!"

The spell hit the skrewt's armor and rebounded; Harry ducked just in time, but could smell burning hair; it had singed the top of his head. The skrewt issued a blast of fire from its end and flew forward toward him.

"Impedimenta!"

Harry yelled. The spell hit the skrewt's armor again and ricocheted off; Harry staggered back a few paces and fell over.

"IMPEDIMENTA!"

The skrewt was inches from him when it froze - he had managed to hit it on its fleshy, shell-less underside. Panting, Harry pushed himself away from it and ran, hard, in the opposite direction - the Impediment Curse was not permanent; the skrewt would be regaining the use of its legs at any moment. He took a left path and hit a dead end, a right, and hit another; forcing himself to stop, heart hammering, he performed the Four-Point Spell again, backtracked, and chose a path that would take him northwest. He had been hurrying along the new path for a few minutes, when he heard something in the path running parallel to his own that made him stop dead.

"What are you doing?"

yelled Cedric's voice.

"What the hell d'you think you're doing?"

And then Harry heard Krum's voice.

"Crucio!"

The air was suddenly full of Cedric's yells. Horrified, Harry began sprinting up his path, trying to find a way into Cedric's. When none appeared, he tried the Reductor Curse again. It wasn't very effective, but it burned a small hole in the hedge through which Harry forced his leg, kicking at the thick brambles and branches until they broke and made an opening; he struggled through it, tearing

his robes, and looking to his right, saw Cedric jerking and twitching on the ground, Krum standing over him. Harry pulled himself up and pointed his wand at Krum just as Krum looked up. Krum turned and began to run.

"Stupefy!"

Harry yelled. The spell hit Krum in the back; he stopped dead in his tracks, fell forward, and lay motionless, facedown in the grass. Harry-dashed over to Cedric, who had stopped twitching and was lying there panting, his hands over his face.

"Are you all right?"

Harry said roughly, grabbing Cedric's arm.

"Yeah,"

panted Cedric.

"Yeah…I don't believe it…he crept up behind me…I heard him, I turned around, and he had his wand on me…"

Cedric got up. He was still shaking. He and Harry looked down at Krum.

"I can't believe this…I thought he was all right,"

Harry said, staring at Krum.

"So did I,"

"Did you hear Fleur scream earlier?"

"Yeah,"

"You don't think Krum got her too?"

"I don't know,"

"Should we leave him here?"

"No, I reckon we should send up red sparks. Someone'll come and collect him, otherwise he'll probably be eaten by a skrewt."

"He'd deserve it,"

Cedric muttered, but all the same, he raised his wand and shot a shower of red sparks into the air, which hovered high above Krum, marking the spot where he lay. Harry and Cedric stood there in the darkness for a moment, looking around them. Then Cedric said,

"Well…I s'pose we'd better go on…"

"What? Oh…yeah…right…"

It was an odd moment. He and Cedric had been briefly united against Krum – now the fact that they were opponents came back to Harry. The two of them proceeded up the dark path without speaking, then Harry turned left, and Cedric right. Cedric's footsteps soon died away. Harry moved on, continuing to use the Four-Point Spell, making sure he was moving in the right direction. It was between him and Cedric now. His desire to reach the cup first was now burning stronger than ever, but he could hardly believe what he'd just seen Krum do. The use of an Unforgivable Curse on a fellow human being meant a life term in Azkaban, that was what Moody had told them. Krum surely couldn't have wanted the Triwizard Cup that badly…Harry sped up. Every so often he hit more dead ends, but the increasing darkness made him feel sure he was getting near the heart of the maze. Then, as he strode down a long, straight path, he saw movement once again, and his beam of wandlight hit an extraordinary creature, one which he had only seen in picture form, in his Monster Book of Monsters. It was a sphinx. It had the body of an over-large lion: great clawed paws and a long yellowish tail ending in a brown tuft. Its head, however, was that of a woman. She turned her long, almond-shaped eyes upon Harry as he approached. He raised his wand, hesitating. She was not crouching as if to spring, but pacing from side to side of the path, blocking his progress. Then she spoke, in a deep, hoarse voice.

"You are very near your goal. The quickest way is past me."

"So…so will you move, please?"

said Harry, knowing what the answer was going to be.

"No. Not unless you can answer my riddle. Answer on your first guess - I let you pass. Answer wrongly - I attack. Remain silent – I will let you walk away from me unscathed."

Harry's stomach slipped several notches. It was Hermione who was good at this sort of thing, not him. He weighed his chances. If the riddle was too hard, he could keep silent, get away from the sphinx unharmed, and try and find an alternative route to the center.

"Okay, Can I hear the riddle?"

The sphinx sat down upon her hind legs, in the very middle of the path, and recited:

"First think of the person who lives in disguise, Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies. Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend, The middle of middle or end of the end? And finally give me the sound often heard During the search for a hard-to-find word. Now string them together, and answer me this, Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"

Harry gaped at her.

"Could I have it again…more slowly? All the clues add up to a creature I wouldn't want to kiss?"

Harry asked. She merely smiled her mysterious smile. Harry took that for a 'yes' Harry cast his mind around. There were plenty of animals he wouldn't want to kiss; his immediate thought was a Blast-Ended Skrewt, but something told him that wasn't the answer. He'd have to try and work out the clues…

"A person in disguise, who lies…er…that'd be a - an impostor. No, that's not my guess! A - a spy? I'll come back to that…could you give me the next clue again, please?"

She repeated the next lines of the poem.

"'The last thing to mend. Er…no idea…'middle of middle''The sound often heard during the search for a hard-to-find word,' Er…that'd be…er…hang on - 'er'! Er's a sound!"

The sphinx smiled at him.

"Spy…er…spy…er….A creature I wouldn't want to kiss…a spider!"

The sphinx smiled more broadly. She got up, stretched her front legs, and then moved aside for him to pass.

"Thanks!"

said Harry, and, amazed at his own brilliance, he dashed forward. He had to be close now, he had to be…His wand was telling him he was bang on course; as long as he didn't meet anything too horrible, he might have a chance… Harry broke into a run. He had a choice of paths up ahead.

"Point Me!"

he whispered again to his wand, and it spun around and pointed him to the right-hand one. He dashed up this one and saw light ahead. The Triwizard Cup was gleaming on a plinth a hundred yards away. Suddenly a dark figure hurtled out onto the path in front of him. Cedric was going to get there first. Cedric was sprinting as fast as he could toward the cup, and Harry knew he would never catch up, Cedric was much taller, had much longer legs - Then Harry saw something immense over a hedge to his left, moving quickly along a path that intersected with his own; it was moving so fast Cedric was about to run into it, and Cedric, his eyes on the cup, had not seen it –

"Cedric!"

Harry bellowed.

"On your left!"

Cedric looked around just in time to hurl himself past the thing and avoid colliding with it, but in his haste, he tripped. Harry saw Cedric's wand fly out of his hand as a gigantic spider stepped into the path and began to bear down upon Cedric.

"Stupefy!"

Harry yelled; the spell hit the spider's gigantic, hairy black body, but for all the good it did, he might as well have thrown a stone at it; the spider jerked, scuttled around, and ran at Harry instead.

"Stupefy! Impedimenta! Stupefy!"

But it was no use - the spider was either so large, or so magical, that the spells were doing no more than aggravating it. Harry had one horrifying glimpse of eight shining black eyes and razor-sharp pincers before it was upon him. He was lifted into the air in its front legs; struggling madly, he tried to kick it; his leg connected with the pincers and next moment he was in excruciating pain. He could hear Cedric yelling 'Stupefy!' too, but his spell had no more effect than Harry's - Harry raised his wand as the spider opened its pincers once more and shouted

"Expelliarmus!"

It worked - the Disarming Spell made the spider drop him, but that meant that Harry fell twelve feet onto his already injured leg, which crumpled beneath him. Without pausing to think, he aimed high at the spider's underbelly, as he had done with the skrewt, and shouted

"Stupefy!"

just as Cedric yelled the same thing. The two spells combined did what one alone had not: The spider keeled over sideways, flattening a nearby hedge, and strewing the path with a tangle of hairy legs.

"Harry! You all right? Did it fall on you?"

"No,"

Harry called back, panting. He looked down at his leg. It was bleeding freely. He could see some sort of thick, gluey secretion from the spider's pincers on his torn robes. He tried to get up, but his leg was shaking badly and did not want to support his weight. He leaned against the hedge, gasping for breath, and looked around. Cedric was standing feet from the Triwizard Cup, which was gleaming behind him.

"Take it, then,"

Harry panted to Cedric.

"Go on, take it. You're there."

But Cedric didn't move. He merely stood there, looking at Harry. Then he turned to stare at the cup. Harry saw the longing expression on his face in its golden light. Cedric looked around at Harry again, who was now holding onto the hedge to support himself. Cedric took a deep breath.

"You take it. You should win. That's twice you've saved my neck in here."

"That's not how it's supposed to work,"

Harry said. He felt angry; his leg was very painful, he was aching all over from trying to throw off the spider, and after all his efforts, Cedric had beaten him to it, just as he'd beaten Harry to ask Cho to the ball.

"The one who reaches the cup first gets the points. That's you. I'm telling you, I'm not going to win any races on this leg." Cedric took a few paces nearer to the Stunned spider, away from the cup, shaking his head.

"No, Stop being noble. Just take it, then we can get out of here."

Cedric watched Harry steadying himself, holding tight to the hedge.

"You told me about the dragons. I would've gone down in the first task if you hadn't told me what was coming."

"I had help on that too,"

Harry snapped, trying to mop up his bloody leg with his robes.

"You helped me with the egg - we're square."

"I had help on the egg in the first place"

"We're still square,"

said Harry, testing his leg gingerly; it shook violently as he put weight on it; he had sprained his ankle when the spider had dropped him.

"You should've got more points on the second task,"

said Cedric mulishly.

"You stayed behind to get all the hostages. I should've done that."

"I was the only one who was thick enough to take that song seriously!"

said Harry bitterly.

"Just take the cup!"

"No,"

said Cedric. He stepped over the spider's tangled legs to join Harry, who stared at him. Cedric was serious. He was walking away from the sort of glory Hufflepuff House hadn't had in centuries.

"Go on,"

Cedric said. He looked as though this was costing him every ounce of resolution he had, but his face was set, his arms were folded, he seemed decided. Harry looked from Cedric to the cup. For one shining moment, he saw himself emerging from the maze, holding it. He saw himself holding the Triwizard Cup aloft, heard the roar of the crowd, saw Cho's face shining with admiration, more clearly than he had ever seen it before…and then the picture faded, and he found himself staring at Cedric's shadowy, stubborn face.

"Both of us,"

Harry said.

"What?"

"We'll take it at the same time. It's still a Hogwarts victory. We'll tie for it."

Cedric stared at Harry. He unfolded his arms.

"You - you sure?"

"Yeah. Yeah…we've helped each other out, haven't we? We both got here. Let's just take it together."

For a moment, Cedric looked as though he couldn't believe his ears; then his face split in a grin.

"You're on. Come here."

He grabbed Harry's arm below the shoulder and helped Harry limp toward the plinth where the cup stood. When they had reached it, they both held a hand out over one of the cup's gleaming handles.

"On three, right? One - two - three -"

He and Cedric both grasped a handle. Instantly, Harry felt a jerk somewhere behind his navel. His feet had left the ground. He could not unclench the hand holding the Triwizard Cup; it was pulling him onward in a howl of wind and swirling color, Cedric at his side.

A/N: Yes I do know this is the original chapter and of course it doesn't belong to me. he only reason it's here is because I didn't remember exactly what happened so I thought I'd put it up again for all of us to remember :) Oh! and it belongs to J., not me!


	7. Chapter 7: The graveyard

A/N: Disclaimer : All recognisable scenes are not mine (ha! I wish!) and they belong to no one else but J..

Chapter 7: The graveyard

Harry felt his feet slam into the ground; his injured leg gave way, and he fell forward; his hand let go of the Triwizard Cup at last. He raised his head.

"Where are we?"

he said. Cedric shook his head. He got up, pulled Harry to his feet, and they looked around. They had left the Hogwarts grounds completely; they had obviously traveled miles - perhaps hundreds of miles - for even the mountains surrounding the castle were gone. They were standing instead in a dark and overgrown graveyard; the black outline of a small church was visible beyond a large yew tree to their right. A hill rose above them to their left. Harry could just make out the outline of a fine old house on the hillside. Cedric looked down at the Triwizard Cup and then up at Harry.

"Did anyone tell you the cup was a Portkey?"

"Nope,"

said Harry. He was looking around the graveyard. It was completely silent and slightly eerie.

"Is this supposed to be part of the task?"

"I dunno,"

said Cedric. He sounded slightly nervous.

"Wands out, d'you reckon?"

"Yeah,"

said Harry, glad that Cedric had made the suggestion rather than him. They pulled out their wands. Harry kept looking around him. He had, yet again, the strange feeling that they were being watched.

"Someone's coming,"

he said suddenly. Squinting tensely through the darkness, they watched the figure drawing nearer, walking steadily toward them between the graves. Harry couldn't make out a face, but from the way it was walking and holding its arms, he could tell that it was carrying something. Whoever it was, he was short, and wearing a hooded cloak pulled up over his head to obscure his face. And - several paces nearer, the gap between them closing all the time - Harry saw that the thing in the persons arms looked like a baby…or was it merely a bundle of robes? Harry lowered his wand slightly and glanced sideways at Cedric. Cedric shot him a quizzical look. They both turned back to watch the approaching figure. It stopped beside a towering marble headstone, only six feet from them. For a second Harry and Cedric and the short figure simply looked at one another. And then, without warning, Harry's scar exploded with pain. It was agony such as he had never felt in all his life; his wand slipped from his fingers as he put his hands over his face; his knees buckled; he was on the ground and he could see nothing at all; his head was about to split open.

From far away, above his head, he heard a high, cold voice say,

"Kill the spare."

A swishing noise and a second voice, which screeched the words to the night

"Avada Kedavra!"

A blast of green light blazed through Harry's eyelids, and he heard something heavy fall to the ground beside him; the pain in his scar reached such a pitch that he retched, and then it diminished; terrified of what he was about to see, he opened his stinging eyes. Cedric was lying spread-eagled on the ground beside him. He was dead. For a second that contained an eternity, Harry stared into Cedric's face, at his open gray eyes, blank and expressionless as the windows of a deserted house, at his half-open mouth, which looked slightly surprised.

What no one in the graveyard knew was that since the wand did not belong to the cloaked man the curse did not have the desired effect. The sixth year student was merely unable to move. He was forced to watch as the short man in the cloak put down his bundle, lit his wand, and was dragging and slammed Harry toward the marble headstone.

Tight cords were being conjured around Harry, tying him from neck to ankles to the headstone. Harry could hear shallow, fast breathing from the depths of the hood; he struggled, and the man hit him - hit him with a hand that had a finger missing. And Harry realized who was under the hood. It was Wormtail.

"You!"

Wormtail ignored him and once he was sure that Harry was bound so tightly to the headstone that he couldn't move an inch he drew a length of some black material and stuffed it roughly into Harry's mouth; then, without a word, he turned from Harry and hurried away.

Harry could see only what was right in front of him. Cedric's body was lying some twenty feet away, looking straight into his eyes. Some way beyond him, glinting in the starlight, lay the Triwizard Cup. Harry's wand was on the ground at Cedric's feet. The bundle of robes that Harry had thought was a baby was close by, at the foot of the grave. It seemed to be stirring fretfully. Harry watched it, and his scar seared with pain again…and he suddenly knew that he didn't want to see what was in those robes…he didn't want that bundle opened…

He could hear noises at his feet. He looked down and saw a gigantic snake slithering through the grass, circling the headstone where he was tied. Wormtail came back within Harry's range of vision, pushing a stone cauldron filled with some sort of liquid. The large snake slithered away into the darkness but not before hissing something at Harry that he heard and understood in the back of his mind but could not decipher conciously. The liquid in the cauldron seemed to heat very fast. The surface began not only to bubble, but to send out fiery sparks, as though it were on fire. Harry was forced to watch as Wormtail casted a spell that allowed the tiny bundle to get the body of a fully grown man. Wormtail used his own hand and HArry's blood to ressurect the Dark Lord...

"You have been taught how to duel Harry Potter?"

As soon as Voldermond had his new body he had cut through Harry's bindings freed the teenager. Harry was now forced to duel the Dark Lord. Harry remembered, as though from a former life, the dueling club at Hogwarts he had attended briefly two years ago…All he had learned there was the 'Disarming Spell', 'Expelliarmus. He had never learned anything that could possibly fit him for this. He knew he was facing the thing against which Moody had always warned…the unblockable 'Avada Kedavra' curse – and Voldemort was right - his mother was not here to die for him this time…He was quite unprotected.

"We bow to each other. Harry,"

said Voldemort, bending a little, but keeping his snakelike face upturned to Harry.

"Come, the niceties must be observed… Dumbledore would like you to show manners…Bow to death, Harry…"

The Death Eaters that were summoned as soon as the baby had trandformed to a man were laughing again. Voldemort's lipless mouth was smiling. Harry did not bow. He was not going to let Voldemort play with him before killing him…he was not going to give him that satisfaction…

"I said, bow,"

Voldemort said, raising his wand - and Harry felt his spine curve as though a huge, invisible hand were bending him ruthlessly forward, and the Death Eaters laughed harder than ever.

"Very good,"

said Voldemort softly, and as he raised his wand the pressure bearing down upon Harry lifted too.

"And now you face me, like a man… straight-backed and proud, the way your father died… And now - we duel."

Voldemort raised his wand, and before Harry could do anything to defend himself, before he could even move, he had been hit again by the Cruciatus Curse. The pain was so intense, so all-consuming, that he no longer knew where he was…White-hot knives were piercing every inch of his skin, his head was surely going to burst with pain, he was screaming more loudly than he'd ever screamed in his life - And then it stopped. Harry rolled over and scrambled to his feet; he was shaking as uncontrollably as Wormtail had done when his hand had been cut off; he staggered sideways into the wall of watching Death Eaters, and they pushed him away, back toward Voldemort.

"A little break,"

said Voldemort, the slit-like nostrils dilating with excitement,

"a little pause…That hurt, didn't it Harry? You don't want me to do that again, do you?"

Harry didn't answer. He was going to die like Cedric, those pitiless red eyes were telling him so…he was going to die, and there was nothing he could do about it…but he wasn't going to play along. He wasn't going to obey Voldemort…he wasn't going to beg…

"I asked you whether you want me to do that again,"

said Voldemort softly.

"Answer me! Imperio!"

And Harry felt, for the third time in his life, the sensation that his mind had been wiped of all thought…Ah, it was bliss, not to think, it was as though he were floating, dreaming…just answer no…say no…just answer no… I will not, said a stronger voice, in the back of his head, I won't answer… Just answer no… I won't do it, I won't say it… Just answer no…

"I WON'T!"

And these words burst from Harry's mouth; they echoed through the graveyard, and the dream state was lifted as suddenly as though cold water had been thrown over him - back rushed the aches that the Cruciatus Curse had left all over his body - back rushed the realization of where he was, and what he was facing…

"You won't?"

said Voldemort quietly, and the Death Eaters were not laughing now.

"You won't say no? Harry, obedience is a virtue I need to teach you before you die…Perhaps another little dose of pain?"

Voldemort raised his wand, but this time Harry was ready; with the reflexes born of his Quidditch training, he flung himself sideways onto the ground; he rolled behind the marble headstone of Voldemort's father, and he heard it crack as the curse missed him.

"We are not playing hide-and-seek, Harry,"

said Voldemort's soft, cold voice, drawing nearer, as the Death Eaters laughed.

"You cannot hide from me. Does this mean you are tired of our duel? Does this mean that you would prefer me to finish it now, Harry? Come out, Harry…come out and play, then…it will be quick…it might even be painless…I would not know…I have never died…"

Harry crouched behind the headstone and knew the end had come. There was no hope…no help to be had. And as he heard Voldemort draw nearer still, he knew one thing only, and it was beyond fear or reason: He was not going to die crouching here like a child playing hide-and-seek; he was not going to die kneeling at Voldemort s feet…he was going to die upright like his father, and he was going to die trying to defend himself, even if no defense was possible…

With a deep breath he mentally thanked the Swans for taking him in, for showing him what family truly meant and sent an apology that could never be heard for what he was going to do.

Harry stood up…he gripped his wand tightly in his hand, thrust it out in front of him, and threw himself around the headstone, facing Voldemort. Voldemort was ready. As Harry shouted,

"Expelliarmus!"

Voldemort cried,

"Avada Kedavra!"

A jet of green light issued from Voldemorts wand just as a jet of red light blasted from Harry's - they met in midair - and suddenly Harry's wand was vibrating as though an electric charge were surging through it; his hand seized up around it; he couldn't have released it if he'd wanted to - and a narrow beam of light connected the two wands, neither red nor green, but bright, deep gold. Harry, following the beam with his astonished gaze, saw that Voldemort's long white fingers too were gripping a wand that was shaking and vibrating. And then - nothing could have prepared Harry for this - he felt his feet lift from the ground. He and Voldemort were both being raised into the air, their wands still connected by that thread of shimmering golden light. They glided away from the tombstone of Voldemort's father and then came to rest on a patch of ground that was clear and free of graves…The Death Eaters were shouting; they were asking Voldemort for instructions; they were closing in, reforming the circle around Harry and Voldemort, the snake slithering at their heels, some of them drawing their wands – The golden thread connecting Harry and Voldemort splintered; though the wands remained connected, a thousand more beams arced high over Harry and Voldemort, crisscrossing all around

them, until they were enclosed in a golden, dome-shaped web, a cage of light, beyond which the Death Eaters circled like jackals, their cries strangely muffled now…

"Do nothing!"

Voldemort shrieked to the Death Eaters, and Harry saw his red eyes wide with astonishment at what was happening, saw him fighting to break the thread of light still connecting his wand with Harry's; Harry held onto his wand more tightly, with both hands, and the golden thread remained unbroken.

"Do nothing unless I command you!"

Voldemort shouted to the Death Eaters. And then an unearthly and beautiful sound filled the air…It was coming from every thread of the light-spun web vibrating around Harry and Voldemort. It was a sound Harry recognized, though he had heard it only once before in his life: the phoenix song. It was the sound of hope to Harry…the most beautiful and welcome thing he had ever heard in his life…He felt as though the song were inside him instead of just around him…It was the sound he connected with Dumbledore, and it was almost as though a friend were speaking in his ear…

'Don't break the connection'

'I know'

His wand began to vibrate more powerfully than ever…and now the beam between him and Voldemort changed too…it was as though large beads of light were sliding up and down the thread connecting the wands - Harry felt his wand give a shudder under his hand as the light beads began to slide slowly and steadily his way…The direction of the beams movement was now toward him, from Voldemort, and he felt his wand shudder angrily… As the closest bead of light moved nearer to Harry's wand tip, the wood beneath his fingers grew so hot he feared it would burst into flame. The closer that bead moved, the harder Harry's wand vibrated; he was sure his wand would not survive contact with it; it felt as though it was about to shatter under his fingers – He concentrated every last particle of his mind upon forcing the bead back toward Voldemort, his ears full of phoenix song, his eyes furious, fixed…and slowly, very slowly, the beads quivered to a halt, and then, just as slowly, they began to move the other way…and it was Voldemort's wand that was vibrating extra-hard now…Voldemort who looked astonished, and almost fearful… One of the beads of light was quivering, inches from the tip of Voldemorts wand. Harry didn't understand why he was doing it, didn't know what it might achieve…but he now concentrated as he had never done in his life on forcing that bead of light right back into Voldemort s wand…and slowly…very slowly… it moved along the golden thread…it trembled for a moment…and then it connected… At once, Voldemorts wand began to emit echoing screams of pain…then - Voldemort's red eyes widened with shock - a dense, smoky hand flew out of the tip of it and vanished…the ghost of the hand he had made Wormtail…more shouts of pain…and then something much larger began to blossom from Voldemorts wand tip, a great, grayish something, that looked as though it were made of the solidest, densest smoke… It was a head… now a chest and arms… the torso of an old man Harry had seen only in a dream was now pushing himself out of the end of the wand just as Cedric had done…and his ghost, or his shadow, or whatever it was, fell next to Cedric's, and surveyed Harry and Voldemort, and the golden web, and the connected wands, with mild surprise, leaning on his walking stick…

"He was a real wizard, then?"

the old man said, his eyes on Voldemort.

"Killed me, that one did…You fight him, boy…"

But already, yet another head was emerging…and this head, gray as a smoky statue, was a woman's…Harry, both arms shaking now as he fought to keep his wand still, saw her drop to the ground and straighten up like the others, staring… The shadow of Bertha Jorkins surveyed the battle before her with wide eyes.

"Don't let go, now!"

she cried, and her voice echoed as though from very far away.

"Don't let him get you, Harry - don't let go!"

She and the other two shadowy figures began to pace around the inner walls of the golden web, while the Death Eaters flitted around the outside of it…and Voldemort's dead victims whispered as they circled the duelers, whispered words of encouragement to Harry, and hissed words Harry couldn't hear to Voldemort. And now another head was emerging from the tip of Voldemorts wand…and Harry knew when he saw it who it would be…he knew, as though he had expected it... knew, because the woman appearing was the one he'd thought of more than any other tonight…

The smoky shadow of a young woman with long hair fell to the ground as Bertha had done, straightened up, and looked at him…and Harry, his arms shaking madly now, looked back into the ghostly face of his mother.

"Your father's coming…"

she said quietly.

"He wants to see you…it will be all right…hold on…"

And he came…first his head, then his body…tall and untidy-haired like Harry, the smoky, shadowy form of James Potter blossomed from the end of Voldemort's wand, fell to the ground, and straightened like his wife. He walked close to Harry, looking down at him, and he spoke in the same distant, echoing voice as the others, but quietly, so that Voldemort, his face now livid with fear as his victims prowled around him, could not hear…

"When the connection is broken, we will linger for only moments…but we will give you time…you must get to the Portkey, it will return you to Hogwarts… do you understand, Harry?"

"Yes,"

Harry gasped, fighting now to keep a hold on his wand, which was slipping and sliding beneath his fingers.

"Harry…"

whispered the figure of Lily,

"thank them for me, will you? Thank them and let them love you..."

"Yes mother"

said Harry, his face screwed up with the effort of holding the wand.

"Do it now,"

whispered his father's voice,

"be ready to run…do it now…"

"NOW!"

Harry yelled; he didn't think he could have held on for another moment anyway - he pulled his wand upward with an almighty wrench, and the golden thread broke; the cage of light vanished, the phoenix song died - but the shadowy figures of Voldemort's victims did not disappear - they were closing in upon Voldemort, shielding Harry from his gaze - And Harry ran as he had never run in his life, knocking two stunned Death Eaters aside as he passed; he zigzagged behind headstones, feeling their curses following him, hearing them hit the

headstones - he was dodging curses and graves, pelting toward Cedric's body, no longer aware of the pain in his leg, his whole being concentrated on what he had to do -

"Stun him!"

he heard Voldemort scream. Ten feet from Cedric, Harry saw his co champion get up slowly, dazed. Cedric turned to face the Death eaters and their leader and extended his hand to Harry. Harry refused to think, what? how? why? and grabbed Cedric's hand.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Cedric screamed and a series of fireworks, one stronger than the other exploded around them. The hissing of a snake was louder and louder and pained screams were heard. Soon it was all over. The two young men looked around them at the fallen bodies. It was over, Tom Riddle and his evil minions were all dead.

The snake wrapped its body around the Triwizard Cup and dragged it forward. Harry and Cedric grabbed it at the same time by the two handles and let it do its job. It was speeding him away in a whirl of wind and color, and Cedric and Harry let out a loud almost crazy laughter. They were going back winners of the Triwizard tournament and defeaters of the Dark Lord.


	8. Chapter 8: The truth comes out

A/N: Disclaimer : All recognisable scenes are not mine (ha! I wish!) and they belong to no one else but J..

Chapter 8: The truth comes out

Bella sat in the VIP bleachers holding a hand on her chest. Charlie had noticed and was shielding his daughter from the others.

"Dad, something's wrong. Something happened with Harry"

Charlie nodded, he knew better than to try and calm her down, when Harry and Bella said that something was wrong with the other they were always right. He got up and conspicuously led her out the bleachers and down to the side of the maze with Billy promising he'd stay there to keep their departure a secret from the other families.

Harry felt himself slam flat into the ground; his face was pressed into grass; the smell of it filled his nostrils. He had closed his eyes and did not move. All the breath had been knocked out of him; his head was swimming so badly he felt as though the ground beneath him were swaying like the deck of a ship. To hold himself steady, he tightened his hold on the two things he was still clutching: the smooth, cold handle of the Triwizard Cup and Cedric's hand. He wanted his parents, for the first time in his life he wanted his parents so badly...

A pair of hands seized him roughly and turned him over.

"Harry! Harry!"

He opened his eyes. He was looking up at the starry sky, and Albus Dumbledore was crouched over him. He had come back to the edge of the maze. Harry let go of the cup, but he clutched Cedric to him even more tightly.

"He's back, Voldemort."

Harry whispered. The face of Cornelius Fudge appeared upside down over Harry; it looked white, appalled.

"My God - Diggory! Dumbledore - he's dead!"

Dead? He died on the way back? The memories of what had just happened were all fuzzy and he couldn't remember whether Cedric was dead and if so was Voldemort still dead? People kept shouting around him

"He's dead!"

"Harry, let go of him,"

"He came back with me. He saved me..."

"That's alright Harry... Just let go now…"

Dumbledore bent down, and with extraordinary strength for a man so old and thin, raised Harry from the ground and set him on his feet but he swayed. His head was pounding and his injured leg would no longer support his weight.

"What's happened?"

Charlie's voice

"What's wrong with him?"

Bella's

"Diggorys dead!"

Fudge's

"He's ill, he's injured – Dumbledore, Diggory's parents, they're here, they're in the stands… I'll take Harry, Dumbledore, I'll take him -"

"Harry, stay here -"

The scene flickered oddly before Harry's eyes…

"It's all right, son, I've got you…come on…hospital wing…"

"Dumbledore said stay,"

"You need to lie down…Come on now…"

Someone larger and stronger than he was was half pulling, half carrying him through the frightened crowd. Harry heard people gasping, screaming, and shouting as the man supporting him pushed a path through them, taking him back to the castle.

"What happened Harry?"

The man asked at last as he lifted Harry up the stone steps. Judging fromt he gruff voice and the sound of wood Harry assumed it was Mad-Eye Moody.

"Cup was a Portkey, took me and Cedric to a graveyard…and Voldemort was there…Lord Voldemort... He Killed Cedric"

"And then?"

"Made a potion…got his body back...And the Death Eaters came...and then we dueled…"

"You dueled with the Dark Lord?"

"Got away…my wand…did something funny…I saw my mum and dad…they came out of his wand…"

Harry heard a key scrape in a lock and felt a cup being pushed into his hands.

"Drink it…you'll feel better…come on, now. Harry, I need to know exactly what happened…"

Moody helped tip the stuff down Harry's throat; he coughed, a peppery taste burning his throat. Moody's office came into sharper focus, and so did Moody himself…He looked as white as Fudge had looked, and both eyes were fixed unblinkingly upon Harry's face.

"Voldemort's back, Harry? You're sure he's back? How did he do it?"

"He took stuff from his father's grave, and from Wormtail, and me,"

His head felt clearer; his scar wasn't hurting so badly; he could now see Moody's face distinctly, even though the office was dark. He could still hear screaming and shouting from the distant Quidditch field.

"What did the Dark Lord take from you?"

"Blood,"

Said Harry, raising his arm. His sleeve was ripped where Wormtail's dagger had torn it. Moody let out his breath in a long, low hiss.

"And the Death Eaters? They returned?"

"Yes, Loads of them…"

"How did he treat them? Did he forgive them?"

But Harry had suddenly remembered. He should have told Dumbledore, he should have said it straightaway –

"There's a Death Eater at Hogwarts! There's a Death Eater here - they put my name in the Goblet of Fire, they made sure I got through to the end -"

"I know who the Death Eater is"

Moody's face was suddenly lit with an insane smile.

"I remained faithful… prepared to risk everything to deliver to him the one thing he wanted above all…you. Who put your name in the Goblet of Fire, under the name of a different school? I did. Who nudged Hagrid into showing you the dragons? I did. Who helped you see the only way you could beat the dragon? I did. It hasn't been easy, Harry, guiding you through these tasks without arousing suspicion. Dumbledore would have been very suspicious if you had managed everything too easily. I Stunned Fleur Delacour as she passed. I put the Imperius Curse on Krum, so that he would finish Diggory and leave your path to the cup clear."

Moody raised his wand, he opened his mouth; Harry plunged his own hand into his robes -

"Stupefy!"

There was a blinding flash of red light, and with a great splintering and crashing, the door of Moody's office was blasted apart – Moody was thrown backward onto the office floor. Professor Dumbledore stepped into the office, placed a foot underneath Moodys unconscious body, and kicked him over onto his back, so that his face was visible. Snape followed him, looking into the Foe-Glass, where his own face was still visible, glaring into the room. Professor McGonagall went straight to Harry.

"Come along, Potter"

She whispered. The thin line of her mouth was twitching as though she was about to cry.

"No"

Said Dumbledore sharply.

"Dumbledore, he ought to - look at him- he's been through enough tonight-"

"He will stay, Minerva, because he needs to understand,"

Said Dumbledore curtly.

"How can it have been Moody?"

"This is not Alastor Moody. You have never known Alastor Moody. The real Moody would not have removed you from my sight after what happened tonight. The moment he took you, I knew - and I followed."

Dumbledore bent down over Moody's limp form and put a hand inside his robes. He pulled out Moody's hip flask and a set of keys on a ring. Then he turned to Professors McGonagall and Snape.

"Severus, please fetch me the strongest Truth Potion you possess. Minerva, kindly go down to Hagrid's house, where you will find a large black dog sitting in the pumpkin patch. Take the dog up to my office, tell him I will be with him shortly, then come back here."

If either Snape or McGonagall found these instructions peculiar, they hid their confusion. Both turned at once and left the office. Dumbledore walked over to the trunk with seven locks, fitted the all the keys in their respective locks and threw open the lid, and Harry let out a cry of amazement.

He was looking down into a kind of pit, an underground room, and lying on the floor some ten feet below, apparently fast asleep, thin and starved in appearance, was the real Mad-Eye Moody. His wooden leg was gone, the socket that should have held the magical eye looked empty beneath its lid, and chunks of his grizzled hair were missing. Dumbledore climbed into the trunk beside the sleeping Moody. He bent over him.

"Stunned - controlled by the Imperius Curse - very weak. Harry, throw down the imposter's cloak - he's freezing. Madam Pomfrey will need to see him, but he seems in no immediate danger."

Harry did as he was told; Dumbledore covered Moody in the cloak, tucked it around him, and clambered out of the trunk again. Then he picked up the hip flask that stood upon the desk, unscrewed it, and turned it over. A thick glutinous liquid splattered onto the office floor.

"Polyjuice Potion, Harry, You see the simplicity of it, and the brilliance. For Moody never does drink except from his hip flask, he's well known for it. The imposter needed, of course, to keep the real Moody close by, so that he could continue making the potion. The imposter has been cutting it off all year. But I think, in the excitement of tonight, our fake Moody might have forgotten to take it as frequently as he should have done…on the hour…every hour…We shall see."

Minutes passed in silence… Then, before Harry's very eyes, the face of the man on the floor began to change. Harry saw a man lying before him, pale-skinned, slightly freckled, with a mop of fair hair. He knew who he was. He had seen him in Dumbledore's Pensieve but he was lined around the eyes now and looked much older…

Snape had returned. Professor McGonagall was right behind him.

"Barty Crouch!"

"Good heavens,"

Snape handed Dumbledore a small glass bottle of completely clear liquid: the Veritaserum with which he had threatened Harry in class. Dumbledore got up and forced the mans mouth open and poured three drops inside it. Then he pointed his wand at the mans chest and said,

"Rennervate!"

Crouch's son opened his eyes. His face was slack, his gaze unfocused. Dumbledore knelt before him, so that their faces were level.

"Can you hear me?"

"Yes"

"I would like you to tell us, how you came to be here. How did you escape from Azkaban?"

Crouch took a deep, shuddering breath, then began to speak in a flat, expressionless voice.

"My mother saved me. She and my father came to visit me and we took on each other's appearance"

"And what did your father do with you, when he had got you home?"

"Staged my mother's death and ordered the house-elf to nurse me back to health. When I had recovered my strength, I thought only of finding my master…of returning to his service."

"How did your father subdue you?"

"The Imperius Curse"

"Tell me about the Quidditch World Cup,"

"It was carefully planned. My father led me and Winky up to the Top Box early in the day and she was to say that she was saving a seat for my father. I was to sit there, invisible. Winky didn't know that I was growing stronger. I was starting to fight my father's Imperius Curse. It was like waking from a deep sleep. I found myself out in public, in the middle of the match, and I saw, in front of me, a wand sticking out of a boys pocket. I had not been allowed a wand since before Azkaban. I stole it."

"So you took the wand, and what did you do with it?"

"We went back to the tent, Then we heard them. We heard the Death Eaters. The ones who had never been to Azkaban. I wanted to attack them for their disloyalty to my master. My father had left the tent and Winky used her own brand of magic to bind me to her. She pulled me from the tent into the forest. I used the stolen wand to cast the Dark Mark into the sky. My father put me back under the Imperius Curse and took me home. And then my master came for me. He arrived at our house late one night in the arms of his servant Wormtail. He knew I had escaped from Azkaban and my father kept me imprisoned to prevent me from seeking my master. He arrived at our house near midnight. My father answered the door. It was very quick. My father was placed under the Imperius Curse by my master and I was released"

"And what did Lord Voldemort ask you to do?"

"He asked me whether I was ready to risk everything for him. I was ready. It was my dream, my greatest ambition, to serve him, to prove myself to him. He told me he needed to place a faithful servant at Hogwarts. A servant who would watch over Harry Potter. Ensure he reached the Triwizard Cup. Turn the cup into a Portkey, which would take the first person to touch it to my master. But first -"

"You needed Alastor Moody,"

said Dumbledore. His blue eyes were blazing, though his voice remained calm.

"Wormtail and I did it. We had prepared the Polyjuice Potion beforehand. We subdued him and forced into a compartment of his own magical trunk. Took some of his hair and added it to the potion. I drank it."

"And what became of Wormtail after you attacked Moody?"

"Wormtail returned to care for my master, in my father's house."

"And tonight…"

"I offered to carry the Triwizard Cup into the maze before dinner. Turned it into a Portkey. My master's plan worked. He is returned to power and I will be honored by him beyond the dreams of wizards."

The insane smile lit his features once more, and his head drooped onto his shoulder.

"Actually he's dead"

Said Harry bringing everyone's attention on him.

"Cedric and I killed him"

McGonnagal was looking at him confused but looking relieved, Snape had a small smile on his face but Dumbledore... Dumbledore's face was turning slowly but surely to an alarming shade of red.

"He's dead! Two kids killed Lord Voldemort?"

Something in his voice made Harry take a step back while McGonagall took a side step and Snape's fingers went to his wand.

"After all these years, after all I've done you killed him?"

Dumbledore's voice was becoming louder and louder and before anyone could move he pulled his own wand out and threw a 'Stupefy' curse at McGonagall and Snape. The two professors fell limply on the floor.

"What have you done?"

a low dark laugh escaped the old man

"I made sure you were safe Harry. I made sure to hire all the right people to protect you, Masters people to be close to you, but none of them knew about me... no, only master knows about me here. Not even that idiot Snape!"

Harry's breath quickened.

"why?"

"Why? Because everyone forgot about him, everyone thought the good side had won. no one udnerstood the danger we were in. Not even the Death Eaters themselves. I had to show everyone how easy it would be for him to ressurect. But now you're safe HArry, I'll keep you safe"

Professor Dumbledore smiled happily in a crazy way. He truly believed his words. He was a firm believed that Tom Riddle or commonly known as Lord Voldemort would return one day. Unofrtunately in his quest to show that to people he had allowed himself to get sucked deeper and deeper. He raised his wand and a bunch of tentacles sprouted by its edge. The tentacles wrapped themselves around Harry but as they started to tighten around him once again the door burst open. This time shots were heard and Albus Dumbledore fell tot he floor, blood oozing from wounds on his shoulders. Charlie rushed in and kicked the wand away from everyone. Sirius was right after him and he went to cuff Barty Crouch Jr. that was still hazily on the chair. Madam Pmofrey was next and started barking out orders to others to get the half naked Moody, the stunned McGonagall & Snape and the shot Dumbledore. Harry was left staring dumbly at the commotion around him that brought back memories of various cop shows until a shrill woman voice ordered everyone to 'shut the hell up' and she wrapped him in her arms.

"Mommy"

he wimpered and hid himself in the dark blond curls and was content to stay there until the room cleared and the only ones left were he, Charlie, Bella, Lupin, Sirius and the woman. A few moments later he felt his strength return but having no desire to leave the comforting hug he turned his head to face the rest of the room. Slowly he told everyone what had happened during the tournament, the graveyard, Cedric being hurt, him and Voldemort duel, the strange connection of the wands, his parents offering him strentgh, him running like a coward back to the portkey and Cedric and him using a curse to kill not only Voldemort but everyone else int he graveyard. How he and cedric came back and now cedric was dead, 'moody' got him to the office, told him he was the local Death Eater, how dumbledore came in, he found the real moody, waited until the fake one turned back to his original face, how dumbledore stunned mcgonagall and snape and tried to kill him after admitting to his work.

Silence followed his words until a giggle escaped Bella

"Harry, Cedric isn't dead. The curse didn't work properly and simply froze him. When Wormtail cut his hand off it lifted slowly and he fought it. He watched you duel with Voldemort. He just lost conciousness when you took the portkey back. He woke up when he was transported to the hopital ward and told us everything."

"So when Dumbledore sent Minerva to have me to wait elsewhere and not with you I knew something was wrong so I went to get everyone and got here"

The woman stroke Harry's messy hair affetionaly

"If you ever lie to me again I'll lock you in to your room until you're thirty. Is that clear young man?"

Renee asked in a non nonsense tone, Harry chuckled nervously and nodded

"Don't worry you'll have company"

"I didn't know either mom"

Bella grumbled from her spot in Charlie's lap and everyone shared a laugh. Remus Lupin took the word then and explained to Harry how he and Sirius were strongly discouraged by Dumbledore from meddling with Harry's life again. The two men had found it highly suspicious and decided to split and watch his parents. Remus had taken watch over Renee and Bella and Sirius had Charlie. When Bella felt that something was wrong today Remus had literally grabbed Renee and Phil and aparated them to Hogwards just in time to save him from the mad headmaster.

A few moments later Harry told everyone what his birth parents told him and after sharing a few tears Renee promised Harry they'd go to visit their graves soon and the group of people headed to the hospital wing as they needed to inform the school of the events.


	9. Chapter 9: Epilogue

Chapter 9: Epilogue

That year the end-of-year feast was a ... well... feast indeed. Everyone was happy that Hogwards was the winner school at the Triwizard tournament even though the holders of the first place were both Cedric and Harry on top of the fact that two kids from Hogwards were the ones that killed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. For that night and that night only there were no Houses in the Great Hall. All the tables had been turned and formed a huge table. For once there were no personal arguments around the table only joy for the year that was ending. It was true. Kids were laughing, talking, drinking and eating repeating the ongoing joke

"The Dark Lord didn't have a nose"

"Then how did he smell?"

"Horribly bad"

The atmosphere at the smaller table for the professors was the exact opposite though. Sure, they were happy the Second War had ended before it began but the news that the Headmaster had gone mad sobered them. The newly appointed Headmistress McGonagall had made an announcement right after the end of the Final Task that professor Dumbledore had taken a sudden leave of absence due to his health and she would step in.

Indeed after the meeting in Alastor Moody's office the day of the third task an immediate meeting had been held. The only topic was 'what on earth are we doing now?' After hours upon hours of talking it was decided that the truth would be concealed, never to be spoken again. Cedric's confession of what had happened in that graveyard backed Harry's as was generally accepted even though a team of aurors canvassed it later to make sure that all the bodies were accounted for. The original Alastor Moody gave a blob of his memories to be viewed in a pensieve just like Harry, Cedric and Barty Crouch Jr. did as he was too weak to give an actual testimony and was more than glad to send Barty Crouch Jr. back to Azkaban to face trial. However with the death of Voldemort all his curses had been broken and since the Death Eater had actually been a good professor he was given the chance to prove himself by working with Remus Lupin at the position of Defense again the dark arts. If anyone was confused or angry by it they didn't say a word.

After the feast the foreign schools left after promises of keeping in touch anf if the hickey in Hermione's neck was anything to go by she and Viktor would definitely be in touch. Harry had invited Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Cedric to Forks for the summer knowing from experience it was a great place to lay low. The four kids acepted happily and after getting permission from their parents they went to the small rainy town arriving just right as the front door opened to reveal Bella and her best friend Angela ready to go to prom.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

A silky voice accompanied by a soft kiss on the side of her neck pulled her from her musings. Smiling she turned to see the soft grey eyes of cendric.

"I was thinking about when we met, actually"

"The tournament of me running after you on your dance?"

"The tournament... And my prom"

Cedric chuckled and wrapped both arms around his wife middle.

"You refused to make it easy for me"

"No one told you to duel your great great uncle, Ced. That was all you"

"Touche"

"At least until Liz came. I have to admit I never thought a vampire would crumble under the scolding of a tiny 105 year old woman"

They laughed at the memories and turned to look at their friends and family as they gathered around them.

"I hope you realize that this is simply embarrassing them"

Bella said and motioned to the commotion at the train station. About ten people were gathered around 3 kids that looked they wanted to be anywhere else.

"I agree but I know better than to go against our fathers"

"The man who killed Voldemort is scared of a cop and a politician!"

Bella said theatrically

"He had help"

Harry said as he joined the couple. Bella rolled her eyes at the two men and checked her watch. It was almost time.

"Come on guys, time to let our babies face the school"

With that she headed to the kids and whispered that it was time. Harry and Cedric gathered their parents and the heartfelt goodbyes began. Charlie Swan and his wife Renee hugged all three children, squeezing the life out of them, and made them promise to write every week, or else. Amos and Donna Diggory kept their dignity a little better and simply wished them a good year at school and the two women held each other and cried as soon as the children turned around.

Harry's children gave a hug to their grandparents and made everyone promise their mother would wait for them to come back for winter break to give birth. Everyone had agreed even though Jennifer Jameson Swan Potter (God that was a mouthful but Harry and JJ wanted to honor all of their parents) was already in the beginning of her last month of pregnancy. JJ was the muggle love child of Lucius Malfoy with his also muggle secretary. When Draco found out during his dad's funeral (Lucius had been killed in the graveyard with the other Death Eaters) he was livid. At once he threw his fathers rules out of his life and began to look life with brand new eyes starting with JJ whom he recognized as a sister.

Harry slipped through the platform first calming the kids' fears and the Harry's twin girls Jamie and Jenna flitted in. Charlotte Diggory was scared but followed her cousins and flitted in much like Harry had done all those years ago (with her eyes closed). Cedric lifted the 5 year old Amy in his hands after taking his wife's hand he followed the kids inside platform 9 and 3 quarters.

The private platform was exactly as he remembered it. Misty, crowded, full of scared kids, excited teens and worried parents. He stole a glance at Bella who was watching around nervously but hid it well. She wa as scared as Charlotte was but she was proud that both their kids were magical even though she could have cared less.

Harry saw them and motioned them over to their friends that were huddled in a corner. Ron and his muggle lawyer wife Reggina were talking happily to Hermione and her husband Draco while Neville was doing his best to appear calm and collected even though he was terrified of his new job as the Herbology teacher. The adults got swept in a conversation that varied from their years at the school and their pranks to their kids names. All conversations halted as Neville boarded the train and it slowly began its long journey to Hogwards transporting the next generations of wizards.

THE END


	10. Outtake  1

**OUTTAKE**

**Bella meets Harry**

It was a warm early July day. In a private looking beach a bunch of people were doing ... well what everyone is doing on a beach. A few dark skinned men were gutting freshly caught fish preparing them for cooking, kids were running around happily playing and some women were keeping their eyes on the kids and the men as well.

A man and a woman dressed to the nines were standing at the end of the narrow road that bordered the sand looking around. They were spotted by a tall kid that didn't look older than 10 and asked for a man. The kid nodded and ran off to bring a man in his early twenties. He was tall, dark skinned with 'I'm the boss' look in his eyes that made him much more intimidating that he should be. The woman passed her burden to the man next to her and extended her hand to the newcomer.

"Hello sir, are you William Black?"

"That's me. And you are?"

"I am Minerva McGonagall and this is Albus Dumbledore. We are social workers"

"How can I help you?"

He accessed them quickly. They both were in their early sixties and had an aura of power around them. They weren't a threat but he still made sure that some of the men behind him could look them. The woman had a tight updo and was in a light green pantsuit and the man looked ... wrong in a velvet dark red suit. it was summer but their attires screamed they were from out of town. Mrs. McGonagall was was about to reply and start the conversation but the bundle in the man's arms started making cute sounds and a tiny head popped from the light green covers.

"We are here because a relative of yours, a Mr. Sirius Black has inherited this little guy. However he is unable to take it in and you are the closest living relative"

Mr. Dumbledore spoke for the first time. William's eyes were trained on the baby; he didn't look more than a year old. The little guy was looking at him, curiously and unafraid. He motioned for them to take a seat in the benches and they did just that.

"I don't have a relative called Black. In fact I'm the last Black, except for my kids"

"We are aware of that that is exactly why this little man should stay with you. His parents were killed last week in a home invasion"

William, commonly known as Billy, felt that there was something they weren't telling him but the softly cooing baby in the older man's lap kept stealing his focus. They began talking about the 'home invention' and this 'long distance relative' when a loud screech was heard and a little girl, barely 4 years old came and glared at him.

"If your son pulls my hail one mole time, I'll slow him in the watel"

She threatened poking her finger in his knee with her chocolate brown eyes being in slits. Billy resisted the urge to chuckle at her 'I'm serious' air and she turned her gaze to the baby that had reached and caught a loose strand of her hair. She smiled at it and turned to the grandma as she named the older woman

"Hello, little baby. Can I play with it?"

The man in the red suit was about to refuse and send her away but the woman smiles at her and agreed showing the little girl how to hold the baby and watched as the girl, gently hugged and carried the baby to the sand tripping every few steps.

Back at the wooden benches Billy was told the tale of how some people had broken into a house and killed the father and the mother that tried to protect their baby. According to the father's will the baby would go to his best friend but he was sort of unreachable and the mother's sister not only refused to take the baby in but made sure to let her husband hit it, the bruises he saw in photos were proof of that. Now the baby needed parents, and was believed to be in danger as the thieves had tried to hurt it as well leaving him a nice scar on its forehead.

"I understand you and if my wife agrees I would love to take him in, I have three kids, what is one more but in case you didn't notice we're not exactly albino pale around here, he's sticking out like a sore thump"

He said effectively killing the happy smile that had started to grown on the woman's lips. The old man was silent, just watched the baby with the little girl. It was true what Billy had said. Only three people weren't russet skinned. In fact from the slight distance the baby that was giggling like mad and the little girl that was tickling it and blowing rapsberries on its chubby belly like no ones business seemed to be siblings

"What about her?"

Mr. Dumbledore said. Billy black followed his eyes to land on the two kids in the sand and his eyes sought out a man in his age only he was pale as well and motioned him over.

"Hey Charlie these are Mrs. McGonagall and Mr. Dumbledore, they're social workers"

the two young men exchanged an amused glance over the funny names but the light in Charlie's eyes died with the words 'social workers'. He was a cop, yes a rookie but a cop nonetheless, and his 'protect protect protect' instincts took over as his posture stiffened. He got briefed in the situation and after looking over at how enthralled his daughter appeared with the baby he easily agreed on talking to his wife. By the end of that bonfire, and a cute off handed comment by the four year old Bella about the social worker's age, the Swan family had expanded to one more member, Harry Potter Swan.


	11. Outtake  2

**OUTTAKE **

**The date**

Bella POV

It was a strangely sunny and warm day for Forks. I woke up slowly stretching like a cat a few timed trying to bask in the feeling of the warm sun on my face and body. After having popped all my muscles thoroughly I got up and headed to the shower. Twenty minutes later I was dressed in a short brown skirt, a rose colored top with 3/4 sleeves and a pair of cowboy boots. I headed downstairs to find dad with Sirius both reading their respective papers (Forks daily for dad and Daily prophet for Sirius) over burnt pancakes.

'Great! They tried to cook again'

I thought and rolled my eyes making a bee line for the cupboards, opting for a bowl of cereal for breakfast.

The two had become good friends since they first met last year and even though Sirius worked as the first and only police dog in forks they managed to keep their friendship. In fact they were heading to La Push today to spend the day fishing with Billy and Harry Clearwater. I was supposed to use a portkey disquised as a snowflake necklace Harry sent me on his last letter and spend the day with him at the nearest to the school magical town called Hogsmeade.

At ten am on the dot the necklace gave a breath of warm air and after saying goodbye to the adults I grabbed my purse, a light jacket and a large paper bag, mom's care package for Harry and touched the snowflake. After feeling as if I was stretched to the limit and then pushed back together I looked around to find myself in a plaza of shorts. Definitely not Forks.

I walked the few steps to a marble fountain and sat on it's ledge. There was a discarded magazine there called 'witch weekly' and started to browse it. I was reading an article by a so-called reporter named Rita Skeeter about how Hermione was a two bitch slut doing both Harry and Viktor Krum at the same time and was laughing my hat off thinking that up until this magazine I thought Brad and Angelina had it bad by the paparazzi when I heard a discreet dry cough. I looked up to see Cedric.

"Hi"

"Hello. What are you doing here?"

"I'm waiting for Harry, we're going to spend the day together seeing as the final task is less than a month away. What are you doing here?"

"I needed to clear my head a bit. Mind if I join you?"

"won't your girlfriend have a problem with that?"

"my what?"

he looked perplexed and I rolled my eyes mentally.

"Your girlfriend. You know human, chinese origin, seeker for the ravenclaw quidditch team..."

"Oh you mean Cho"

I raised an eyebrow and he chuckled before replying

"Cho is not my girlfriend. Our dads are good friends and she's a bit loose with guys so I am keeping an eye on her"

"by dating her?"

"It serves a purpose. No girls are hitting on me anymore and it's making sure she won't be returning to her parents plus one by the end of the year. May I join you now?"

I felt a light blush on my neck and cheeks and nodded. I looked around for Harry and then looked back to Cedric taking him in and mentally comparing him to his vampire twin - more like great grampa actually. I smiled and we started talking about nothing in particular, Smalltalk mostly. I heard a few giggles and looked around to see a bunch of teens in black robes that had badges on them that changed from 'Support Cedric Diggory the real Hogwarts champion' to "Potter stinks' and felt my blood ascending to my head.

"I'm sorry about the badges. I asked my friends not to wear them"

"It's not your fault Cedric. It's just childish but what can you expect? Magical or not they are still children"

I said and Cedric nodded. Just then Harry came and I bid Cedric goodbye thanking him for waiting with me. As he left I turned to Harry who had a glint in his eye. I mock glared right back and handed him the package.

"mom sent it"

he opened it to find a few clothes, a pair of sneakers, and a bunch of child size socks and sweats and t-shirts

"I think she has the size wrong"

Harry muttered and I laughed

"You said you wanted to buy Dobby socks right? Well I may have mentioned to mom you had a younger boy under your wing and mom being mom she went overboard"

Harry laughed with me and after a tour of the shops we headed to a pub called 'The Three Broomsticks'. It was was packed, mainly with Hogwarts students (judging from their capes or robes as Harry loved to correct me) enjoying their free afternoon, but also with a variety of magical people Harry rarely saw anywhere else. He told me it was because Hogsmeade was the only all-wizard village in Britain, it was a bit of a haven for creatures like hags, who were not as adept as wizards at disguising themselves. We took a table and ordered butterbear. Not sure what that was.

We spent our morning talking and people watching. All the people in the pub looked cheerful and relaxed. Two kids were swapping some sort of cards at a nearby table; both of them sporting Support Cedric Diggory! Badges on their cloaks. Right over by the door was Cho and a large group of her Ravenclaw friends. She wasn't wearing a Cedric badge though... I could see this cheered up Harry a bit and making a split decision I leaned in and told him what cerci had told me about him and cho. Harry's face scrunched a bit mulling over it and then his inner gossipy girl came out to play as he gave me the dirt about the couple in question. I could see how the relationship would be fake.

Harry told me he felt a little jealous over the freedom the others in here had, with nothing to worry about but homework? We talked about how different it would be to be here if his name hadn't come out of the Goblet of Fire.

"I wouldn't be carrying the Invisibility Cloak"

"I wouldn't be here then. You'd have to make up more lies for me and Renee"

"I'd be here with Ron and Hermione happily imagining what deadly dangerous task the school champions would be facing on Tuesday."

His watch beeped late that afternoon signaling him he was supposed to meet Sirius to talk about the last task so I told him I'd be on my way soon. I was leaving the bathroom and met Cedric again and agreed to go for a walk with him.

"So…where d'you want to go?"

Cedric asked as we left the pub. The High Street was still full of students ambling up and down, peering into the shop windows and messing about together on the pavements.

"Oh…I don't mind,"

I said shrugging.

"Urn... shall we just have a look in the shops or something?"

Cedric looked as uncomfortable as I felt. We wandered towards Dominic Maestro's and made fun of some of the clothes that were on display. A large poster had been stuck up in the window and a few Hogsmeaders were looking at it. They moved aside when Cedric and I approached and Cedric found himself staring at pictures of the first two tasks with a banner for the last task.

"Um…d'you want to get a coffee?"

I said tentatively wanting to take our attention from the banner. I was scared enough for Harry I didn't want or need to start talking about it with Cedric as well. It was bad enough that he is the spitting image of Edward, with tamed hair and grey eyes but still.

"Yeah, all right,"

"So you know any place or ..."

I made a move to indicate the pub we were just in. He smiled and oh-so-casually took my hand to lead me to the other direction.

"I know just the place. Have you ever been to Madam Puddifoot's?"

He lead me up a side road and into a small teashop next to an interesting looking bookstore. It was a cramped, steamy little place where everything seemed to have been decorated with frills or bows. It reminded me of the girl's choice dance at Forks.

"I've never been to Hogsmeade before"

I answered careful not to make any comments about the place. We picked a table a bit away from the windows as the fact that I was the only muggle in sight, foster sister of one Hogwards champion having dinner with the other one who was in a steady relationship was a bit too much for the little town and everyone was looking at us. Cedric pulled my chair and took a seat opposite of me.

A number of golden cherubs that were hovering over each of the small, circular tables, occasionally throwing pink confetti over the occupants stole our attention and all of them started circling our table singing the theme song from Titanic. I felt myself blush even more and regretted wearing my hair up.

The couple on the next table were holding hands, much like everyone else in the teashop making the awkwardness rise up.

"What can I get you, m'dears?"

said a very stout woman with a shiny black bun, squeezing between our table and the next one with great difficulty.

"Two coffees, please"

Cedric said.

In the time it took for our coffees and pancakes to arrive the couple next to us had started dueling with their tongues over their sugar bowl.

Cedric's ears had a very slight pink tint and turned to look around the room as I stared up at the ceiling as though examining the paintwork and received a handful of confetti in the face from their hovering cherub.

After a few more painful minutes, I decided to grub the proverbial bull by its horns.

"Em Cedric how about we don't do this. You're friendly with my brother and we're simply having dinner together. Let's not over do it."

Cedric looked so grateful I wished I had a Kodak with me as he nodded and after a few moments of me glaring at our cherub it left.

"impressive"

"my dad's a cop, I inherited the glare"

I joked and just like that the awkwardness lifted. Cedric talked about quidditch after explaining exactly what it is (when Harry did it I fell asleep on him) and I told him the only sport I ever did was beach volley. How hard can you ever hit when you're paying on the sand? He had never tried it. Then he went on talking about transfiguration and how he used it on the first task. We talked about the differences between a muggle school and Hogwarts.

He told me about his parents and how wizards didn't use electronics or power or cars and I was amazed. I told him about my parents and how good it felt to know all about my brother.

After dinner we headed to the bookstore where he showed me some of his favorite books but no matter how hard I looked around I could find none of my favorite books so I promised I'd send him one or two.

We were by the fountain sharing jokes when my snowflake gave a warm feeling. I looked at Cedric who had a longing look

"I think that's my que to leave"

"I suppose so"

"I had a great time, thank you for keeping me company today"

"The pleasure was all mine"

He leaned in and I turned my head to give him a soft kiss on the cheek. Real or fake he was in a relationship and I'm not that girl.

"I'll see you around, Cedric"

With that I touched the snowflake and returned to the living room at home. Finding a note by dad to meet them at La Push I put my books away and got in my truck. I couldn't help but imagine Cedric with me and how he would look faced with my engine's loud roar


End file.
